late game slow down

[rafisher]

Playing at Noble, space race strategy

I've been successful in winning the space race, with victories typically coming after 2020 AD. I've been trying to improve my game with victories coming earlier. After reading various tips on this forum (specializing cities, etc), I often start very well and often get find Scientific Method as early as 1600. But then suddenly, everything slows down: researching the next techs takes longer, and then when I finally get the Apollo program in my production city, it takes forever to build. I thus end with either my space race victory still coming late after 2020Ad, or the AI beating me.

What can I do to maintain my early/mid game pace in progressing through the Tech Tree?

Thanks for any insights.

 

[Betafor]

Don't stop expanding

 

[Cam_H]

rafisher,

I guess there are a few reasons as to why this might be happening to your research (e.g. sub-optimal civic choices {go for State Property - Workshops and Watermills!}, missing trading opportunities, unfocussed technology tree {go for Computers!}). Are you constantly finding yourself at war, as this can be very distracting in a Space Race? You're not automating your Workers I hope!

The Ironworks is a massive National Wonder, and if you've been building The Apollo Program and other 'big ticket' items without it, this might explain why things may be lagging. Saving a couple of Great Engineers for a hurry on The Space Elevator is another tactic that can push Space Ship parts' production along. Obviously Aluminium and Copper should be secured, even if you have to pay 150/turn - it's worth it. As per above, State Property with lots of Workshops and Watermills can dramatically improve your productivity without sacrificing food.

It would be really handy if you had a couple of saved games that you could post for others to look at.

 

[uncarved block]

Just a couple guesses, from what little info you've given rafisher:

You can get through the tech tree pretty quickly with only 7-9 cities, thanks to light bulbing techs and trading with the AI, but when you get to the late game, there's nothing quite like sheer mass. Get to 12 cities if you can (and yes, they probably will have names in another language ), and see if that changes things. Sounds like you might not be growing enough as well, another problem that gets easier to resolve with more cities, since more territory = more happy resources.

As for knocking a few turns off after you build the Apollo Program, I always like to have a few lower production cities work on the Casings and Thrusters, and keep the high production cities cranking out military units to keep you secure in the meanwhile. It doesn't matter if it takes a city 20+ turns to build a Casing, if you have 30+ turns of research left, right? The Engine is the biggest hurdle, because nothing but the Elevator helps cut time, so that's a priority to keep in mind.

Keep plugging away I was at the same spot a couple months ago (on Noble), but now I can get a ship launched by 1980 pretty easily, and just this week launched in 1892. Nothing to brag about here, just encouragement that with a little practice and experience you can do the same.

 

[CivCorpse]

What size map are you playing? 12 cities is not a lot on large or huge maps. also if you are running a SE they tend to be less effective in the late game compared to CE

 

[OKScientist]

I 'm also playing on Noble, but I find that I win the space race typically in the 18th century (playing standard maps on Marathon speed, though). Of course, this only happens if I can't win Domination earlier for some reason.

I think the secret is that you need to try to stay on the offensive throughout the game, you need a lot of workers and you should not automate them.

Also, one thing that has sped me up a little is that I push Scientific Method back as much as possible. because it obsoletes the Great Library (which I invariably build). So, I research first everything that is researchable without the SM, and only then I research it.

edit: Oh, yes, getting the Pyramids to run Representation is pretty important too.